BALADI NEWS
Thousands of Syrians have been arbitrarily arrested over the past year, according to rights groups, as Bashar Assad’s regime looks to reassert control in areas of the country recaptured from opposition.
Following the defeat of opposition fighters in most parts of the country in early 2018, Assad state security militias have turned their attention to stamping out any perceived threats to Assad’s rule.
While some were released after questioning, 2,400 of those are still being held in the country’s notorious prisons, where thousands are believed to have died due to ill-treatment or torture.
The report is one of many similar investigations by rights groups alleging mass arrests and disappearances in areas of regime control in Syria.
Last month, Human Rights Watch alleged that Syrian intelligence branches are “arbitrarily detaining, disappearing, and harassing people in areas retaken from anti-regime groups”.
Source: Orient Net, based on: The Independent.